Thanks for the feedback!
Chronos, I was wavering about the Occultist anyway (and hadn’t included it my final role-list anyway), and you’re analysis is right. I’ll remove it until it is more balanced.
Ah, my lack of clarity. The “no lynch” would still hold the most votes and so no lynch would occur.
I have a little color text about the slow bureaucracy.
Game reason why: it hampers the global information (balancing against power roles), plus allows an additional role (the Coroner).
The Freemasons are the equivalent of Vanilla Townies. No special powers, except they can try to find each other. They win or lose with the Town, of course. They are also useful for finding the Omega wolf. Interesting idea about building a lodge.
Ah, good point. I’ll actually take that as the Guardian Angel being too powerful. Without them, the safety of the Witches can’t be guaranteed. And the Witchdoctor can only resurrect a given player once. The Witches can’t afford to sacrifice themselves, since it risks the Cabal winning. So, I think the Witches are ok without the Angels in play.
The Detective will get his info during the day, after he PMs his request (which death to investigate) to the moderator. Yes, he is the most powerful Town role. And he is balanced by the number of scum.
Basic Wolf strategy: choose one “fall guy” wolf (maybe even the Alpha, since he’s replaceable) to kill each night. The Detective will soon find him (and the Vampire). But as long as that Wolf keeps killing, the Detective won’t find any more Wolves. His information is limited by good play.
Of course, the Detective could claim early, revealing the Vampire and one Wolf. Then it’ll become a race between the protectors and the scum to see how long the Detective can hold out. I’ve considered this worst-case scenario for the scum and think it’s ok.
The Detective is the huge threat to the Undead, since they won’t have the numbers of the Wolves. The Vampire works like the Serial Killer, but with survival of the Necromancer as the goal. I think the Undead are balanced.
Yep, one of the less useful roles. The Coroner is basically a plain player, with a bonus insight. Not all power roles need to be powerful.
Right again, they’re basically simple Townies with a simple bonus. Good play for them would be more aggressive, since they know they can’t be killed as easily.
He’ll find out two mornings after the kill (first morning is ID reveal, second is side reveal). The Vigilante is the alternate attack arm of the Town, but he bets his life each time he uses his attack.
Probably the Witchdoctor will protect himself until he has a better target. And the number of scum is balanced against these kinds of trades (expect more than the usual number of scum in this game). And remember the WD can only save a player once. They can be killed permanently next time.
Ah, see my idea isn’t original. I guess this is just my version of the Bomb.
Chronos’s explanation kills the Occultist.
The Vicar vs Necromancer is actually well balanced. Each day-night cycle, there’ll typically be two or three new deaths. The Vicar can only bless one per day, so the bodies will be stacking up faster than he can bless. Unless the Town and Wolves hold back on lynching/killing. So, about mid-game, when half the players are dead, the Undead will be close to winning, unless the Vicar played well. Killing the Necromancer will thus be the first order of business for the other sides. And since he doesn’t kill directly the killer-ID powers don’t help.
Interesting. I was thinking the Cabal had it the hardest. Their only way to win is to sway votes and stay hidden. While the Cabal will need to help the Town early to kill Undead and Wolves, if the Witches survive, they’re screwed, since the Town will certainly never lynch a Witch. And the Town should view the Cabal is a buffer against the other scum (taking hits for them, since the Cabal will need to be out there swaying votes).
The Vampire(s) feeds kills to the Necromancer and doesn’t need to survive to win. The Undead win on any night that their count (Vampire(s) + Necro + Zombies) outnumbers all others combined. The Necromancer just needs to survive until midgame, when the number zombies is greater than the number of live players.
If anything, they’re too easy to win. I’ve considered allowing the Witchdoctor the ability to destroy one Zombie instead of casting the protective spell. Thoughts on that? BTW, the Vampire doesn’t know who the Necromancer is (and vice versa), and a same-side kill is possible. So it goes.
Yep, you’ve figured out the basic Wolf strategy. The Alpha would not be killed by the Warlock’s curse. The Magician will still escape if the Alpha is his target, but the Alpha would survive the attack, if not Vampire/Vigilante.
As to my motivations, my primary goal was to build in more mini-games. More things for players to weigh when thinking about what to do. And shifting “alliances” among the different sides.
General gameplay: everyone wants to get the Necromancer as soon as possible. But he has the perfect lurking role and will be hard to find. The Cabal will be helping the Town, except for trying to either get the Witches lynched or night-killed. The Detective will have to decide when to claim. Too early, and the Undead have a big advantage (with the Town killing Wolves instead of trying for the Necro).
Many of the roles are basically Vanilla Townies with an extra option. Not unbalancing, but giving the player something more to think about.
